CHAPTER TWELVE

Sorority Blues

Shampoo powdered some rouge on her
face and combed her long purple hair. She added some eyeliner to the tips of
her deep purple eyes. She walked back into her closet. Her tall, white walk-in
closet. What to wear? She pulled out a silky blue peasant shirt with lacy ribbon
and put it on. The smooth silk clung very firmly and wrapped around her breasts.
She also tossed on a really tight pair of Lei* pants. She looked at herself
in the mirror. Yeah, this will do.

She dashed down the stairs. Suddenly
a woman with long dark black hair came up to her. Ling was pretty cute for a
girl. She was part Korean with beautiful slim dark eyes and soft facial features.
She was wearing a white peasant shirt with tight blue pants. She also had a
very coy smile. "Hey girl!"
Ling said sweetly. "Where were you last night?"

"I went out with a bunch of friends,"
Shampoo replied.

"The new rushees are here," Ling
said. "They look so cute. Don't you remember when we used to be freshmen?"

"Yeah, good times" Shampoo replied
warily. "How many do we have this year?"

"Fifty," Ling replied. "Can you just
totally die? Speaking of die, you know May Yim is going to kill you later."

"That's a risk I'll take," Shampoo
replied.

They entered the white living room
of the house Kappa Alpha Omega to the sound of girly chatter and giggling. Shampoo
looked around. The young girls were everywhere. Shampoo suddenly felt very old.

One young woman stood up. She had
short black hair, rimmed eyeglasses. Her curt Asian lips painted with L'Oreal
Lusty Red. She wore a mini pink-shirt with silver sparkles in the form of KAO,
the Greek letters for the sorority and a black mini skirt which revealed her
smooth tanned legs. "Welcome
to Kappa Alpha Omicron, we are a national Asian-American Christian sorority,"
May-Yim said. "My name is May Yim. I'm a communications major and your president!"

"Hi May Yim!" the girls all replied
with aritificial perkiness. Shampoo felt like she could puke.

Another girl stood up. "My name is
Candice Tokugawa and I am the vice president of KAO!"

"Hi Candice!"

"I'm Ling Lai and I am a Design major
and your pledge mistress!"

"Hi Ling!"

"Hey, my name is Shampoo Chen," Shampoo
said coldly. "Food Studies- Women and Gender Studies double-major and Asian
American studies-minor. And I am the treasurer of Kappa Alpha Omicron"

Silence. "Gooo Bears!" Shampoo
sang.

"Hi Shampoo!" the girls chortled.
May Yim gave Shampoo a cold glare and then resumed her aritificial perkiness.
"We excited that you are continuing on with the pledge process and within
a month, we will see several of you as our brand new sisters."

"Horray!" the mindless drones replied.

Shampoo twirled her glass of pink
lemonade at one corner. Normally she would be her perky little self, shaking
hands and finding the most perkiest girl and give her a total makeover. It worked
when she was rushing into the sorority. But something else was on her mind.
She didn't want to play the mind games that her friends would normally play
anymore. Around her, the sorority girls flocked onto the rushees like a bunch
of wild hyenas to a wounded antelope. It seemed strategic. Three sorority girls
clad in their perky pink shirts would gather around a group of five rushees
who were nervously chatting about boys, make-up, Christianity, and studying.
Some of the girls nodded joyously. Moreover, they would not include lesbians
because Shampoo knew that May Yim, the pious perfect Korean Christian girl,
was also a homophobe.

Across from her, another girl also
twirled her cup of pink lemonade. She had short black hair cropped to the top
of her neck, dark brown eyes and she was wearing a black tanktop and tight black
pants. Shampoo walked up closer. "You don't look like you're having any fun."

“Well, neither do you,” the other
girl snapped.

“I surely don’t,” Shampoo said quietly.
“I get bored from these girls talking about which make-up foundation matches
their mini-skirts." The girl laughed. "My name is Amy by the way."

"Shampoo Chen," Shampoo
reached out her hand and smiled. "So what brings you to our neck of the
woods?"

"I really don't want to do this,"
Amy said. "My friend Kate is rushing." She nudged to toward the ponytailed Asian
girl chatting with May Yim. “I’d rather spend time with my girlfriend.”

“Your girlfriend?” Shampoo’s eyes
widened. Here was this Asian girl who almost looked like Akane Tendo, who
could definitely pass for a normal Asian girl and she’s…a lesbian! She doesn’t
look like Ellen or Melissa Etheridge or the typical white lesbian girl like
Jane Dunway does. She’s just like…me?

“That’s wonderful,” Shampoo replied.
“How’d you meet her?” Shampoo
and Amy talked for a while. Amy was a Biological Science major with a minor
in Woman Studies. She also learned of Queer and Asian, an Asian American
gay support group and UC Berkeley. Shampoo was trying not to hide her excitement.
“It’s just that I’ve never met gay people,” Shampoo stammered. “Since I’m from
China or Japan or something like that.” Amy likewise was fascinated about China
and was interested in an exchange-student program at Berkeley. Amy told her
about how Q&A became a support group for her when she was coming out
of the closet. In fact, Amy met her girlfriend in Q&A and they were
celebrating their six-month anniversary next week. Shampoo couldn’t help but
smile. “I love it when two people, any two people find romance,” Shampoo replied.
Amy smiled for the first time since she was in the rushee meeting.

“All the girls were really nice except
for that creepy one in the corner,” May Yim said as the last of the rushees
left. “I think she’s a dyke or something.”

“Actually,” Shampoo corrected her.
“She’s a lesbian.”

“I just knew it!” May-Yim replied.
“There’s just something, you know, weird about her. And you actually
talked to her, that is amazing!”

Yeah, Shampoo thought. Sure
it is. She turned around and saw Amy walk out. But Amy wasn’t alone. Another
cute Asian girl with long, black hair, who definitely did not look butch, met
her and held her hand. Shampoo stared at those two girls for a moment. She wished
that she could do the same thing too.

While Shampoo was looking longingly
at the door, she did not notice that Ling was looking subtly at her.